This, my friends, is a picture of a birthday cake. A gluten free Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. David and I share a birthday, and my gift to myself this year was a homemade cake. For a first try I thought it turned out extremely well. No one could tell that it was gluten free. I want to do a little tweaking before I post the recipe, but it will be up within the next few weeks.

Allergy Update
In other news, I’ve given a considerable amount of thought as to how to proceed regarding my pollen/wheat allergy. The anithistamine (Xyzal) and steroid spray (Nasonex) that the doctor prescribed are helping the nasal symptoms that I didn’t realize I had. I’m also feeling better overall. The stomach symptoms have seen some improvement, but I’ve not seen as definite a change as I have in the nasal symptoms. The acne, which I’ve had since I was a teenager, is worse. Overall I’m not sure the improvements I’ve seen can justify staying on the meds.You see, I don’t really like to take medicine. There have been too many doctors that have prescribed medicine for my symptoms instead of looking for a solution to my ailment. And while I think this doctor is better than average, I’m not to the point where I’m willing to live on medications or take allergy shots before trying some other routes. Besides, all drugs are toxic to some degree and I’d rather not take those that are harmful during pregnancy while I’m in my child-bearing years. You just never know when that might become an issue =)

After doing some reading I’ve decided to try a nutritional approach to this problem . For 6 months, starting June 1st I will be eating a vegan diet. For at least the first 6 weeks I will also be following the Eat to Live guidelines. My main reasons for doing this are as follows:

Going Vegan: Adopting a vegan diet will eliminate two more highly allergenic foods from my diet. I already know that dairy causes digestive issue for me, and I’m hoping that completely eliminating the dairy will cause some improvement in that area. The good news for some of my readers is that most of my recipes for the next 6 months will be egg and soy free.

Allergies & Acne: I read Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman a couple of years ago and reread it this week to remind myself why I shouldn’t be eating animal products. (I needed a pep talk to help me give up cheese!) In his book and on his website, he mentions that many of his patients have been cured of allergies and acne by following his dietary guidelines. Cured!!! Without prescriptions or allergy shots or tons of facial products. I’m willing to give it a try.

Weight Loss: I am 5′ 7″ tall and weigh 172.8 pounds. My BMI is 27.1 which means that, technically, I am overweight. I tend to carry this weight in all the right places, so if you know me you’d probably tell me that I’m not overweight. But let’s face it; I am. I have fat rolls, and jiggly arms, and a tummy that has yet to recover from childbirth.

According to the BMI calculator, my weight should be somewhere between 118 to 159 lbs in order to be in the “normal” category. Dr. Fuhrman’s formula says that I should weigh approximately 124 lbs. For anyone that’s counting, that means I need to lose approximately 50 lbs. The Eat to Live program seems a reasonable way to lose the weight, but I’m allowing myself to reevaluate that decision after 6 weeks. (Mom, I know that I looked pretty thin at 150 lbs. John’s promised to not let me get too skinny!)

What Will Change
This week I’m working on using all of the dairy products that I have on hand so that I’m not tempted to eat them after June 1. I’ll still buy some shredded cheese for John, but that’s it. I’ll also probably keep some eggs on hand until I come up with a new sandwich bread recipe. John often makes bread while I’m at work and I think he prefers chicken eggs over flax eggs.

I’m also trying out some of the Eat to Live guidelines so that I will be prepared to succeed next week. For those who haven’t read the book, the Eat to Live program diet calls for you to eat 1 lb. of raw vegetables, 1 lb. of cooked green vegetables, 1 c. of beans, and at least 4 pieces of fruit every day. This is a bit more than I’m used to even on a vegetarian diet so I decided I needed a few days of experimentation.

For instance, yesterday’s breakfast was a 16 oz. fruit smoothie and I was starving by 10:00 AM. Today I had a 32 oz. smoothie and scrambled tofu (counts as beans) and wasn’t hungry until noon. Tonight I made sure to add 2 lbs. of veggies to our Quinoa Stir Fry (1 lb. for each adult) and made a 1.5 lb. salad. And since I love salad dressing, I experimented with making my own dressing from 1 tomato, 1 Tbsp. tahini (1 Tbsp. of nuts is allowed per day), the juice of half a lime, and some honey. It was delicious and I didn’t feel guilty that I was drenching my salad with it.

I think that I will probably focus on salad, bean and vegetable recipes on the blog this summer. I know many people do not eat these foods because they do not know how to prepare them so that they taste good. Since we don’t allow non-tasty food in this house, I’m going to be making some good new recipes. And maybe I can help you eat more healthfully by sharing the recipes and how-to articles here on the blog.

Questions & Comments:
If you have any questions or advice, I’d love to hear from you in the comments. I don’t mind talking about any of this stuff, so feel free to ask whatever you want. You can even tell me I’m completely off base with the veganism, and I’ll still love you =)

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• I Don’t Have Celiac!!!!

This may be a long story, but I found it so interesting that I’m going to share. There. You’ve been forewarned.

After the incredibly busy time in my life that I will not refer to by name for another nine months or so, I got back on a strict gluten free diet. I expected most of the tummy symptoms that I was having would clear up relatively quickly and I was excited about feeling good again. After a few days the stomach cramps were gone, but other symptoms were still proving to be a challenge (This is a food blog, I’m trying not to be too specific!). After a few more days, I was beginning to get worried. After 3 weeks…well I called and made an appointment with an allergist.

So many of my fellow bloggers and my readers have multiple food allergies that I was convinced that I must have developed an allergy to soy or corn. I mean otherwise I would be getting better, right? Giving up tofu at this point was not going to be easy (I really do love the stuff) so I decided to have food allergy testing done before trying an elimination diet. I went into that appointment convinced that the terrible tummy culprit was soy or corn.

The doctor was great. He took a long and detailed history of my symptoms and was not disbelieving when I told him that I had issues with wheat and suspected celiac disease despite a negative blood test. (points for him) He then gave me a brief rundown of how allergies work. Basically on one end of the spectrum are the people that eat peanuts and have an anaphylactic reaction and on the other end are people that have nasal congestion due to pollen. Somewhere in the middle are people who eat an apple and have an allergic reaction because they are allergic to trees and their bodies realize that they just ate a tree. That made sense.

We discussed potential food triggers that I wanted tested (soy, dairy, corn, wheat, eggs, spinach and tomatoes) and the environmental triggers that he wanted tested (trees, grass, dust mites, dogs and cats). We eventually came to an agreement and he said that the nurse would be in shortly to administer the test. At this point I was pretty excited. This doctor had really listened to me and seemed interested in figuring out what was wrong. He seemed particularly curious about the intestinal symptoms and about how the wheat test would turn out.

In case you’ve never had allergy testing, I fill you in on all the itchy details. The nurse had me swap my shirt and bra for a paper shirt and lay face down on the table. She then proceeded to stick my back in 6 places with what felt like a circular stamp containing multiple needles. (This was later confirmed when I found out I got 47 pricks on my back). Before leaving the room, she told me that she’d be back in 20 minutes and then shut the door.

Before two minutes was up I had become convinced that a swarm of mosquitoes had attacked me. I decided that this was “not a good sign” and began contemplating complex tax issues. That helped some, but my contemplation of the distribution/contribution/ asset sale ended up something like this: “So, if the partners receive $x cash and the liabilities go away, then aaaaggghhhhh their at-risk basis will go down ooohhhhhh it itches but they will still be positive because of the gain WHEN WILL THIS BE OVER!!! where was I?

Twenty minutes later the nurse reappeared and seemed amazed at the size of the hives on my back. I decided that this too was “not a good sign” since she should see things like this every day. Then, to my utter frustration, she then went on to measure the hives and take copious notes regarding the state of my allergic reaction while remaining absolutely silent about what any of this itching meant. Besides saying “You’re quite allergic” which was exceptionally helpful (sarcasm alert).

I got to reclothe by body at this point and she gave me six additional shots in the arm to make sure that I wasn’t allergic to items that appeared negative on my back. She left the room and  since I was expecting to be alone for the next 20 minutes I whipped out my BlackBerry to start rescheduling appointments (I’d already been there for two hours!). Within a few minutes another nurse popped her head in and asked if she could see my back. Evidently Nurse #1 had commented that “We should have checked on her earlier.”

Nurse #2 was amazed as well and asked why I had come in. I explained about the tummy issues and she seemed genuinely shocked. This nurse seemed a bit more chatty so I asked her why she was so surprised. “Because you’re really allergic to grass and trees.” Grass and trees??? At this point Nurse #1 stuck her head in and said, “I have a movie that you need to watch on dust mites.” Dust mites??? “What about the food tests,” I asked. “Oh, you’re only allergic to wheat.”

At this point I was extremely happy (I still get to eat tofu) and extremely puzzled (trees and grass???). The wheat didn’t really surprise me and explains why my heads gets all itchy when I accidentally use a shampoo containing wheat. And, incidentally, it explains why my my blood test came back negative. I don’t have celiac; I have a wheat allergy.

The doctor came back by the room to explain the results of the test. Basically, my biggest allergens are grass and trees. All of the yucky intestinal symptoms are due to oral allergy syndrome which is a condition in which the body mistakes food proteins for pollen proteins. When the body sees the “pollen” in the digestive system it initiates an allergic response that can mimic the classical symptoms of celiac. The doctor said that I am so allergic to plants and trees that any ingested plant food could be causing an allergic reaction.

My immediate response, of course, was to ask what foods I shouldn’t eat. The doctor laughed (in a friendly manner) and said that I am so allergic to plants and trees that any ingested plant food could be causing an allergic reaction. If I were to avoid every food that could be problematic I wouldn’t be able to eat anything but meat. He did say that I should avoid wheat since I am definitely allergic to it, and to avoid any foods that I know cause issues, like dairy.

The doctor subscribed some medicines to calm my body down, and then told me about allergy shots. The shots are the only long-term solution, but they are expensive and require a time commitment of 3 to 5 years. Right now I’m thinking that I will stick with the medicines until we can save up the funds for the shots (possibly $4,000 for the first year alone). However, if my symptoms do not get better I may rethink that strategy.

I wanted to share all of this with you in case you’ve never heard of oral allergy syndrome. Nurse #2 told me that she had worked with allergists for 15 years, and it was not until this doctor joined the practice two years ago that she had ever heard of oral allergy syndrome. Before having the allergy testing I would have sworn to you that I have celiac. But I don’t. And with what is hopefully a correct diagnosis, I can start taking the additional steps that my body needs in order to heal.

If you’d like to learn more about oral allergy syndrome just follow the link to a Wikipedia article that my doctor recommended. It has a great table that lists all of the food that you may react to if you’re allergic to a certain pollen. After reading that, you’ll understand why he said that food elimination is not an option.

We will of course continue on the gluten free diet. John does have a celiac diagnosis and there’s no way I’m giving my child wheat until he is older. If any of you have wheat or pollen allergies I’d love to hear your take on the allergy shots. I think that I’ll definitely take them at some point, but I don’t think it’s something that can’t wait for a little while.

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• GF Birthday Cake, Allergies, Veganism and 50 Lbs to Lose